Justice Elena Kagan has denied an emergency request from McKenna West, an Alaska nurse who served as a surrogate, to block a California court order recognising Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as the legal parents of a baby boy born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (a rare condition that restricts blood flow to the heart and requires multiple surgeries). West had refused the couple's request to terminate the pregnancy after the defect was discovered, citing a disagreement over a contract clause permitting abortion in cases of fetal abnormality, and instead travelled to Texas — where abortion is illegal — to give birth. The Supreme Court's refusal to intervene follows a Texas Supreme Court ruling allowing the infant to be transferred to a Los Angeles hospital for treatment, leaving the California couple's parental rights intact while West continues to seek custody, arguing the parents will not pursue adequate medical care.